RESIDENTS

Stricken with cancer, Garnette Anderson, 82, wants to die inside her mobile home at the Haven Lakes Estates park.

"When you buy a home at my age you expect to die there," she said. "That's what I bought it for, to live and die in."

But after reading a letter about the pending sale of Haven Lakes, Anderson thinks she might spend the rest of her life somewhere else.

Residents are unnerved because they don't know whether the park will stay open.

The one-page letter from Haven Lakes management states the park will be sold for $12.9 million on or before June 6.

The letter does not reveal the buyer nor the future plans for Haven Lakes, located at the intersection of Red and Honey Hill roads near the Dade County line.

The park is run by Haven Lakes Estates Inc. of Pompano Beach. The current owner of the property, William Castellano, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

His lawyer, Edward Kreiling, declined to elaborate on the deal.

"I cannot comment on the Haven Lakes situation," Kreiling said.

About 1,000 people live in Haven Lakes, a community of senior citizens and young working couples with children. The park was built in 1972.

A widow since 1967, Anderson has lived alone in her mobile home for 20 years and pays $279 a month in rent. Her nearest family is three hours away in Orlando.

"I don't know what is going to happen," said Anderson, who has breast cancer. "I have no idea where I would go if I had to leave."

Anderson is one of several residents of the 518-unit mobile home park who are upset about the sale of the property.

Helen M. Truxell, who has managed the park for 12 years, said she has not been told what will be done with the property.

Truxell, 68, a 20-year resident of the community, said she worries about losing the money she has invested in her mobile home.

"Right now it is a big 'if,'" she said. "I've got as much invested in my home as anyone else."

If the new landowner does decide to evict the tenants of Haven Lakes, it could be a while before they would have to leave.

Florida law states that the city must first change the zoning of the property the park sits on before the landowner can evict tenants.

As of Tuesday, there were no proposals to change the zoning of the Haven Lakes property, said David Stein, zoning specialist for Miramar.

After the zoning change, the tenants must be given one year to move. Then the landowner must move the mobile homes to another park.

It's difficult to determine what the landowner might want to do with the park, according to Lewis Goodkin, a Miami real estate analyst. Goodkin, president of Goodkin Research Inc., said mobile home parks tend to create more profit than apartment complexes.

But judging by the land prices in Miramar, a landowner could decide to turn the Haven Lakes property into a commercial development, Goodkin said.

Waiting to see what will happen to the park upsets some residents.

"They are making life hard for us," said Annette Constra. Constra, 76, has lived in Haven Lakes for 15 years. "These are supposed to be the golden years."